Hooked Posted August 18, 2014 Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 I am retiring my trusty but old portable Eagle Fish ID fish finder. Had it for over 20 years! So I am in the market for another portable. From what I have seen there are not many portable fish finders out there to choose from. I have my eye on the Hummingbird Piranha Max 176i PT. Any thoughts on this or other suggestions? I like that unit since it has a built in GPS. I would love to be able to have way points to go by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted August 18, 2014 Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 I like the elite 5. Works great. S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooked Posted August 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 I like the elite 5. Works great. S. Is that portable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRIFTER_016 Posted August 18, 2014 Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 Is that portable? You can purchase the ice pack to make it portable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misfish Posted August 18, 2014 Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 (edited) I like the elite 5. Works great. S. I bought the elite 4x ice pack last winter. Comes with bag battery and charger. . I have been using it all season . Just made a holder for it. You can have a full screen,a flasher split screen as well. So with this unit,you will get hard water and soft water use out of it. Hope this helps Hooked Edited August 18, 2014 by Brian B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodsman Posted August 18, 2014 Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 The Elite 4X does not have GPS. The Piranha Max 176i PT is a black & white unit. If you want colour consider the Humminbird 386 ci Portable. 2 1/2 times the power, twice as many pixels and also a slot for charts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misfish Posted August 18, 2014 Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 Missed the GPS comment. SRY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted August 18, 2014 Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 Yep, Elite 5 comes in a portable kit with both transducers. S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeXXington Posted August 18, 2014 Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 2x for the Elite 5. I also purchesd the RAM mount for it works excellent off a kayak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooked Posted August 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 Thanks fella's, will look into the Elite 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adempsey Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 (edited) The portables are convenient, but you can make any unit portable. I'd check for some used models and mod a box to make it portable. Of course, if you get a big power hungry hog of a sonar it won't make a great portable unit unless you carry around plenty of spare batteries. Edited August 19, 2014 by FishLogic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRIFTER_016 Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 The portables are convenient, but you can make any unit portable. I'd check for some used models and mod a box to make it portable. Of course, if you get a big power hungry hog of a sonar it won't make a great portable unit unless you carry around plenty of spare batteries. Very true. This is the one I made so I could use my LMS-350 while guiding on Great Bear Lake. It took a motor cycle battery for power and that lasted about 14 hours on average. I later upgraded to a group 24 deep cycle that ran for a week at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey buoy Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 Very true. This is the one I made so I could use my LMS-350 while guiding on Great Bear Lake. It took a motor cycle battery for power and that lasted about 14 hours on average. I later upgraded to a group 24 deep cycle that ran for a week at a time. Nice Dave,some eat up battery life crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgop Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 I'm trying to really determine the difference between all of these Lowrance Elite 5 units. Mostly will use for fly-ins and a very occasional trip out on my cousin's boat. There's so many different models and the compare option on their website doesn't seem to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wall i Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 For fly-ins all you really need is something that will give you accurate depths. The more bells and whistles the more it sucks valuable battery juice. Forget color and GPS as they will drain battery life at 10x the rate. Go for a simple hand held GPS if the lake is that large. Most fly in lakes are not large enough to require anything more than a compass. If the depth finder wont go a week on 8 D cells, Im not interested in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgop Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 For fly-ins all you really need is something that will give you accurate depths. The more bells and whistles the more it sucks valuable battery juice. Forget color and GPS as they will drain battery life at 10x the rate. Go for a simple hand held GPS if the lake is that large. Most fly in lakes are not large enough to require anything more than a compass. If the depth finder wont go a week on 8 D cells, Im not interested in it. The camps I have gone to and will go to in the future will all have solar/generator back up, so I can handle one that uses more juice if it's giving me good results as I can easily recharge it. I'm not packing batteries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Ironmaker Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 It's funny Hooked, when I first read your question I thought about my Eagle Ultra Fish I.D. Exactly 20 years old in October. Still works like new. The first year we used it no one could take their eyes off the thing until we ran aground one morning on Bernard. How you run aground on a 300 foot plus deep lake don't ask me. Oh I remember, we were watching TV and not steering. That's when I learned what a shallow water alarm was. It was just amazing, like 3 cavemen watching a stone wheel rolling down a hill for the first time and crushing everyone in it's path. I sure like that Lowrance Elite if I was spending your money. Very nifty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wall i Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) The camps I have gone to and will go to in the future will all have solar/generator back up, so I can handle one that uses more juice if it's giving me good results as I can easily recharge it. I'm not packing batteries. Those rechargeables based on my buddy's experience have a relatively short shelf life....generally around 5 years before the battery wont hold a charge any longer. It can ruin a trip if if dies. I depend on my depth finder too much and always take two in with me and both will run over a week on 8 D's. Edited August 27, 2014 by wall i Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeytier Posted September 2, 2014 Report Share Posted September 2, 2014 I purchased a Humminbird Pirahnamax 176ci portable GPS/Fishfinder and had it out for the first time today. Portable pack is very well put together and functional. Graph works very well, and I like the chartplotter screen, very simple and straightforward. Not great for managing a large number of waypoints but plotting trails, basic waypoint marking and watching your speed it works great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherpete Posted September 4, 2014 Report Share Posted September 4, 2014 Love my Elite 5 as well, also have the portable pack for the winter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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